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Running satisfies
Chang’s soul

WHY on Earth would anyone, at any age, suddenly start running marathons?

"I was a classroom teacher and I absolutely needed to de-stress," Mollie Chang said.

OK. Good reason.

So Chang started coming to Dr. Jack Scaff's free Sunday marathon clinics at Kapiolani Park. That was 29 years ago this month.

"I had never, ever run a single step in any race at all," she said. "I was an absolute novice."

Now, it's 29 years later, and she's run the Honolulu Marathon every one of those years except one. Last April, she won her age group at the famed Boston Marathon.

She's 72.

Last month, she was named the Honolulu Quarterback Club's Senior Female Athlete of the Year. Yesterday, the club had her over to share her secrets.

"Could it be said," KFVE's Jim Leahey asked from the audience, "that you run for the enhancement of your soul?"

Yeah. You could say that. Exercise does tend to clear the mind. There is a mind and body connection.

"You hear about runner's high," Chang said. "So I guess I might have reached that at some point."

She does exude an air of serenity. That could be from running.

Or it could be that she has since retired from classroom teaching.

But no, she does love the running. And unlike many runners, she loves it without fanaticism. It is enjoyment that sends her out again each day, year after year after year, not obsession.

Everything is in its place.

"The reason I run is because it is satisfying," she said. "And I get something back because I win awards. And it makes me feel good."

You can see it in her, after 29 years and at age 72.

It's her intelligence, her gift of self-awareness, that has helped her get all these benefits out of running, without the breaking down.

Moderation, she said. This is to help your body, not hurt it.

At 75, she said, she might think about tapering down, going shorter distances.

Maybe picking up speed.

She loves to run 800 meters, all out. Loves zooming up hills.

That might be a fun change, after running marathons for all this time.

Yeah, maybe at 75 she'll take a look at cutting down on all these 26.2-mile runs.

I went up to meet Chang after her speech. She said that I should go to one of those Sunday marathon clinics, like the ones that got her started, 29 years ago.

Are you kidding?

Look what happened to her!